


Ties That Bind

by jellijeans



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Fire Emblem - Freeform, Fire Emblem: Fates Spoilers, Spoilers, fire emblem: birthright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-05-29 02:31:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6355333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jellijeans/pseuds/jellijeans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the hoshidan army—and especially saizo—is in shambles after kaze's death, and they struggle to pull themselves back together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Denial and Anger

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Brother Mine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6183493) by [ylissianknights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ylissianknights/pseuds/ylissianknights). 



> if the summary didn't already spoil it for you, this does contain spoilers for fire emblem: fates - birthright. i'm reverting back to my usual 3rd person/past tense in this. it does involve saizo/kagero romance, and i also use the english/american names for the characters.

Saizo watched as Kaze threw Corrin to Hinoka, hurling himself onto the cliff in the process. He watched as his brother dangled there, barely holding onto the cliff, as he professed his loyalty to Corrin, and then watched as the ground shook, the cliff broke, and Kaze fell to his death at the bottom of the canyon, his body presumably being crushed by the chunk of rock as he hit the bottom.

Corrin was there, sobbing into Hinoka’s arms over the loss of her newly-pledged retainer, and yet Saizo himself stood there, unable to process what had happened. Where was his younger twin? The brother he had grown up with? Despite all his wishes, he found himself unable to cry. Kagero approached him, squatting beside where he sat, and put her hand on his shoulder, closing her eyes slightly as she stared down the canyon. Saizo, too, stared down into the gaping, rocky abyss, looking for the body of his beloved brother, which he couldn’t see from the top of the cliff—in his mind, he knew that Kaze was dead, and that he wouldn’t be coming back, but in the inside, he was secretly hoping that somehow, his brother would return in some odd heroic fashion or other, similar to the ways his brother would disappear for hours on end when they were younger, and suddenly return with some interesting trophy as proof of his adventure for the day. Saizo remembered, once, his brother had brought back a type of bark, that, when burned, produced a unique, incense-like scent, which was only found from a tree only found in a town an hour’s walk away from where they had lived. Later on, the two of them had whittled it into a pendant that they had given to their father, hoping to make him proud. He had embraced the two of them in a warm hug before putting on the pendant and showing it off to his fellow ninjas—later, when he died and Kaze and Saizo had found his body, they saw that he had still been wearing the pendant, and one of the other soldiers that his father had worked with explained to the two of them, still so young and so innocent and yet suddenly thrown into a war of death and betrayal, that he had worn the pendant almost always, as it reminded him of his sons and that he had to fight to protect them, but that it also kept him happy in the darkest of times.

They had burned the pendant at his shrine after his death in place of incense, hoping that somewhere and somehow, burning the pendant could join it with their father in the afterlife, if one existed at all.

But there was no pendant to burn for Kaze. Hell, there might not even have been a body to be found—if there was, it was certainly too mangled and too stuck under the fallen part of the cliff to be retrieved. Saizo was pulled back into reality and out of his memories as Kagero laid her head on his shoulder, shaking as she quietly sobbed, her tears rolling down her cheeks and falling far below. Saizo turned towards her and embraced her, pulling her gently onto his lap as she curled up and sobbed onto his chest. As a child, and as the firstborn, just barely older than Kaze, he had been told that as the one who would continue the Saizo name, he couldn’t cry. He had to be honorable but silent, strong but emotionless. Like every time, even at the death of his brother, Saizo couldn’t bring himself to cry—instead, he just sat there with Kagero, mourning the loss of his brother as he wondered why the loss of his father wasn’t already enough of a burden on his life—why did he have to lose his brother, too?

Silas wandered over to Saizo and sat down behind him—Hinoka, comforting Corrin, had started packing their things to return back to their camp, and was watching over her pegasus and Silas’s horse.

“Saizo...” Silas began, unsure of how to continue. “Saizo, I’m sorry. I’ve heard about how you lost your father, and now your brother too...this is awful. This is a tragedy. I’m so sorry.”

Despite his creed of being emotionless and to never be vulnerable to his own feeling, Saizo whipped his head around, giving an icy glare to the younger soldier.

“Your apology means nothing,” he hissed. Silas backed away, shocked. “Your apology...it won’t bring Kaze back.” Kagero, still curled up on his lap, began to shake and sob, desperately mourning the loss of her friend.

“I...I’m sorry, Saizo,” Silas murmured before returning to Hinoka. He offered a quick hug and a sad smile to Corrin, who hugged him back and cried to him instead, mournfully going over how Kaze had just pledged his allegiance to her after they were reunited due to Kaze’s self-described “mistake” that had supposedly caused Corrin to be kidnapped.

Kagero took a moment to steady her breathing before pressing herself closer to Saizo again.

“Saizo, this almost feels like...old times,” Kagero breathed. She felt Saizo’s body stiffen before relaxing. “Us, huddled up, me crying...even back then, you never cried, did you?” Kagero asked quietly. Saizo shook his head. “Saizo...”

“I always wondered why you cried so much—it was something that always struck me as...curious,” Saizo murmured, his voice stricken with grief. Although he physically didn’t show it, to Kagero, she could hear his hurt and wonder at why of all things, this had to happen in his voice. Kagero took another deep inhale.

“I always cried because you never did,” Kagero confessed quietly. “I always could sense when you were in pain, whether physically or emotionally,” she continued. “And Kaze...he was mysterious, but compassionate. You used to be like that, too, up until your father died.” Kagero took a breath inwards, closing her eyes. “You changed, then, but...”

She felt Saizo push her off as he stood up and brushed the dust off his pants. She wiped away the last of her tears as she stood up and joined him with the rest of the group, looking at her feet.

“Saizo...I’m sorry.” Kagero whispered under her breath. Saizo exhaled, and continued walking.

 

When they got back to the camp, not only was the sun almost completely set, it was raining; Saizo retreated to his tent and sat down on his bed, spinning his shuriken in between his hands. He felt a light tapping on the flap of his tent, a tapping that, despite the gentle pelting of the rain, sounded different than the rest.

“Come in,” he called, his voice cracking.

Corrin opened the tent flaps and made her way in, sitting on the wooden floor of the stationary tent.

“Saizo...we found a note in Kaze’s tent, as we were clearing it out,” Corrin began. Saizo felt his muscles tighten.

“...why were you clearing out my brother’s tent?” Saizo asked, looking at his feet.

“We...you know how it goes when someone dies, Saizo.” Corrin responded quietly. “We can’t keep their things here forever. Expirables begin to rot, and if they aren’t expirables, eventually, they take up too much space.” Tears were forming in Corrin’s eyes again, although she quickly shut them to prevent herself from falling apart again. “Kaze knew this. But...we were cleaning out his drawers, and we found a note. It was labeled ‘for Saizo’. I thought you might want to read it,” she continued. She pulled the note out from under some of the fabric on her armor, being careful to keep it dry, and then passed it to Saizo. He opened the note and began reading it aloud.

“Saizo, if you’re reading this, this means that in some form or another, I’ve managed to die. I’m sorry for leaving you like father did, but I...just hope that for whatever reason I’ve died, it’s not in vain. I don’t have any dying wishes, unless I’ve not managed to become Lady Corrin’s retainer before I died—in that case, that’s my one regret as I pass on. I don’t have any gifts from my adventures to pass on to you—as the war began and as father passed, I had to stop going on those, so I can’t give anything to you. But I know you always admired my craftsmanship in my shurikens, so I’ve decided to dedicate this one to you. It’s not that strong, so I doubt you’d use it in battle, but maybe you can just carry it around like Father did with that old pendant. I’m sure you remember it. I found the bark, and you had been worried sick all day that day, you’d told me, but you helped me whittle it into that old pendant when I couldn’t do it myself. If you remember that old practice shuriken made of tin we used to cut the wood...this is that shuriken. I’ve kept careful track of it all this time—I didn’t really know why, but I knew I kept it for a reason, and now that I’m actually going over the prospect of death, I know why. I’m giving this to you. I’m sorry for leaving you, Saizo.” Saizo shut his eyes for a moment, pushing back tears, before reading the last part of the letter. “All my love, from Hoshido and beyond, Kaze.”

Saizo folded the note back up and slouched over it for a second, looking at the handwriting of his lost brother. His eyes started to sting, and he could feel a headache begin to pound its way to the front of his head—quietly, he turned to Corrin, although he didn’t look up at her.

“Corrin.” He whispered quietly. “I’ve lost my brother, my father, and the person I love...I haven’t lost her to death, but I’ve lost her to uneven seeing. I have no one. I have no father to comfort me, no brother to fall back on, no love to cry to. I have no one.” He ran one of his hands over the scar that marked his face and robbed him of vision in one eye, reliving old memories. “I cannot help but feel at least partially responsible for the death of my brother, so, under normal circumstances, I would pledge my allegiance to you—however, I cannot, as I am already pledged to Lord Ryoma. Be that as it may, despite myself feeling responsible for Kaze’s death, I also hold you responsible—at least somewhat—for his death.” Corrin flinched. “I will not hold it against you. My loyalty is still pledged to Lord Ryoma, and through milord, to you, but...Kaze was the person I held most dear. We grew up separated much of the time, and did not spend much time with each other, and as a result, we were not particularly close, but under all of our distance, we loved each other as brothers should—beyond how words can describe. If you let another person like this die...” He broke off, but did not continue, falling silent.

Corrin nodded, eyes closed. “I’m sorry for Kaze’s death. I won’t lose another person.” She left, walking out back into the rain. Saizo heard her feet sloshing against the mud in the torrent, and almost felt regretful for what he had said—the only reason he didn’t feel regret was because he knew, in the deepest, darkest part of his mind, he did hold Corrin responsible for Kaze’s death.

“Kaze, my brother,” he breathed quietly into the stillness, “I’m sorry.”


	2. Bargaining and Depression

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> desperate for ways out of the emotional pain, saizo, out of his bed for once, attempts to find ways to cope.

“Saizo, it’s been four days,” Hinata commented, strolling into the tent. Saizo was, once again, sitting on the edge of the cot, staring at the floor. “You’ve missed the mission that’s gone on since Kaze’s death, and you need to get moving. Lady Corrin is going to need all the help she can get, and Kaze wouldn’t want you to be lazing around in your tent all the time.”  
“You don’t know what Kaze would want,” Saizo snapped back. “You’re not Kaze. He was my twin.”  
“I’m not Kaze, and thank the gods I’m not your twin, but you still need to do things,” Hinata responded, tidying up some of the objects scattered around the room. “Doing nothing is doing no good for anyone. Even Lord Ryoma and Lord Takumi are worried for you, you know—so am I and Kagero. Subaki even offered to check in on you and help you get back on your feet.”  
Saizo didn’t respond, only staring at the wood at the floor of his tent that had begun to rot. It had been like that for months, but it hadn’t bothered him up until then—many things hadn’t bothered him until that point in time, actually. Kagero hadn’t spoken to anyone for almost a day and a half, Lord Ryoma had spent all of his free time sparring, and Corrin, whenever she wasn’t attending meetings or out fighting, locked herself away in her living quarters, with her only company being Jakob and Felicia, her butler and maid, so something was clearly bothering all of them, too. Even Gunter, Corrin’s older retainer, had been silent, despite his lack of relations to Kaze.  
“Hey, Saizo, I’m talking to you.” Hinata snapped. “Are you going to do anything, or are you going to keep mourning over Kaze? You’re not doing anything—you’re only thinking of yourself, and frankly, the rest of us are hurting just as much over Kaze, but we’re not letting it interfere with our duty. We’re doing as much as we can to restore peace, and have even arguably tried _harder_ in Kaze’s memory—you can’t just sit around and whine and pout all day because someone died. We’ve all lost someone, and you know it! For Lord Ryoma and Kaze’s sakes, _get out there and start doing some work_. We’re sick and tired of you lazing around because you can’t get over your sense of entitlement to your own loss. Get over it, and get back to work.” Hinata finished, glaring at the older ninja.  
“How dare you,” Saizo snapped. “You don’t—”  
“Dammit, who cares if I don’t know how to feel! You’re still not doing anything, and that doesn’t change, regardless if I can empathize!” The samurai yelled. He stormed out of the tent, leaving Saizo alone again.  
“Damn you, damn you, damn you, Hinata...” Saizo cursed under his breath. For once, he pushed himself off of his mattress and out of his tent, facing the light of the day that no longer shone on Kaze’s face. He squinted at the sun as he slipped his mask on his face, trying to get reaccustomed to being outside and having to commit to his tasks again. He searched for Lady Corrin, before realizing that she was probably inside of her quarters, working on some task. Swallowing his depression, he decided to trudge over to his commander’s quarters to ask what he could do.

Just as he was heading over, Felicia flung the door open and proceeded to almost fall down the stairs in surprise as she noticed Saizo outside of his tent for the first time in days.  
“Saizo! You’re outside!” She almost hugged him before noticing his stern demeanor. “...oh. I’m sorry for your loss, Saizo. We’ll all miss Kaze greatly.” She cleared her throat, awkwardly tugging at her collar. “Anyway! What can I do for you?”  
“I—I was wondering where I could find Lady Corrin,” Saizo murmured. Felicia blinked, pondering her response, before speaking again.  
“I...Lady Corrin and Jakob have requested a _moment alone_ in Lady Corrin’s living quarters.” She stammered, flushing red. “I can keep an eye out for Lady Corrin and tell her you’re looking for her when she comes out,” she offered. Saizo nodded in appreciation and wandered off, trying to find something else to do, before coming to the arena.

Rinkah was leaned up against the wall to the entrance of the battlefield, resting for a moment.  
“Rinkah,” Saizo grunted in greeting. Rinkah blinked at him, narrowing her eyes.  
“Ah. So the zombie awakens from his grave,” Rinkah muttered. She stretched, pushing herself off the wall. “I want to fight in the arena to earn more ore—we need it for the smithy, you know?—and I need a partner, because due to the fact that I’m not a diviner, I’m not allowed to fight alone,” Rinkah explained. “Do you want to fight with me?” The oni warrioress asked. Saizo nodded.  
“I want to be the main fighter, though.”  
“Fine by me. Assisting or fighting—either way, we’re still earning more ore.”

The two of them headed into the arena, prepping their blades for battle as the opposing units stepped out. Those who faced them in the arena were soldiers from other parts of the army, generally units from either Ryoma or Hinoka’s forces that needed training while not on the front lines—as a result, ore, food, and other materials had begun to be bet on fights by the forces who fought against each other to spice up fights and add more intention to win to them, and thus having the side effect of better training and sparring. However, Saizo’s intention wasn’t to win ore for the smithy—at that day, Saizo’s intention was maybe he’d be able to bet his pain away or at least cover it up by winning more material.  
The opponents that they faced that morning were a samurai and a spear fighter from Ryoma’s subordinates. The samurai landed a hit on Saizo, but Rinkah managed to block the jab from the spear fighter—a few fires of shurikens and a clubbing or two later, Saizo and Rinkah had won more amber to use to upgrade some of their weapons. Admittedly, Saizo had gotten out with a few more scratches than he would have liked, but...the sting of the cuts didn’t feel too bad for him. Although he was sore and the cuts stung worse than hell, the physical pain managed to cover up some of the mental pain.  
He could get used to this.

For days, in his freetime, Saizo forgot about asking Corrin what he could do—instead, he spent his days fighting at the arena, earning more materials and sometimes losing them. Eventually, betting himself at the arena grew boring when the risk of losing became so little of a risk—so, for the first time after his brother’s death, Saizo went to visit the cliff where he died.

He was alone, and it was around midday—he’d gone on one or two missions since then, but they hadn’t been anything major; just small scouting missions that were sometimes accompanied by little skirmishes. It had been days since they’d actually fought anything, so he had decided that he would go visit the cliff, since they were back in that area.  
Once he was there, Saizo found himself staring over the edge of the cliff, once again looking for his brother’s body. What could he do to bring him back? He was already gone, but...was there a way to bring his body back? Maybe he was still alive down there. Maybe he was just under that rock, hungry and caught, but still alive and breathing. Before he knew it, he found himself preparing to leap down the canyon until Subaki ran up to him and wrapped his arm around his waist, catching him just as he began his jump.  
“Saizo! What the hell?!” Subaki demanded. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Just throwing yourself off like you’re planning to die?!”  
Saizo just gave him a blank stare. “...but—”  
“No ‘buts’, Saizo. You’re an idiot and you’re about to kill yourself over some delusional possibility that Kaze’s still alive down there or something like that—”  
Saizo shot him a questioning look. How did he know what Saizo was thinking?  
“—and you’re completely forgetting those who love you the same way you loved Kaze back at camp. Do you know what Lord Ryoma’s been doing? He’s been worried sick, Saizo, that you’ve gone over somewhere to kill yourself. He’s been almost bursting into tears all day, Saizo, and you don’t even think about how not only Kaze’s death but also the fact that you interact with everyone so little that it _seems_ like you’re dead has affected everyone in camp. Lady Corrin blames herself for Kaze’s death, you know. She did right when he died and it doesn’t help that all you’ve been doing is shoving the blame for Kaze’s death _which was a self-sacrifice_ onto everyone else, especially her, when you’re not doing what you’re usually doing, which is throwing yourself into reckless danger in the arena or sulking inside of your tent. Lady Sakura sent me after you simply because she was feeling everyone’s bad vibes and it wasn’t helping any of us and I’m thankful I got here in time because you would’ve been almost _dead_ , by the looks of it.” Subaki spat. “Useless, ungrateful, waste of a ninja—”  
“...Subaki.” Saizo looked at the pegasus knight dead in the eyes, and the airborne fighter was surprised to see that his fellow soldier was actually tearing up for once. “Subaki...I’m...sorry.”  
“Saizo...” Subaki murmured, watching the other redhead, for what seemed like in the first time in his life, break down into tears.  
“Damnit, Subaki...I just wanted him back...I thought that maybe after realizing he was dead, maybe I could get the pain to go away by just betting my own skills and if I won then maybe it would work, but it didn’t and I still...I can’t do anything. I’ve tried wishing for him to come back to make it go away and throwing myself into fights but it just isn’t working, Subaki. There’s always a numbness and if there isn’t a numbness it just fucking _hurts_ and I just want him back,” Saizo drawled. Subaki was still holding him back from falling over the cliff, and a part of him still wanted to fall if only to see his brother again, whether that would mean seeing his brother at the bottom of the cliff or seeing his brother in whatever afterlife existed.  
Subaki returned him to a standing position and carefully sat him down, sitting down next to him and throwing his legs over the side of the chasm. The feeling of the crook of his knees against the side of the cliff was slightly liberating, but also terrifying to think that if the top of the chasm was more slippery, he easily could have fallen to his death. “Saizo...I’m sorry about all of this. I’m sorry about Kaze’s death and just...everything. But you can’t just stop living because someone else did. I speak, as one of the people who knew Kaze best, the truth—Kaze would not want you to cut your life off and get rid of so many potential, happy futures because he is gone. Please, Saizo. Don’t do this.”

Saizo took a deep breath, hating the feeling of how his body shook from weakness—both physically and emotionally. For once, he removed his mask, debating whether the feeling of fresh, unfiltered air against the back of his throat was something he enjoyed or not. He tilted his head back, closing his eyes, trying to block out the vision of the cliff and what lay down below.  
“Subaki, have you ever lost someone?” Saizo asked quietly. “..someone...important.”  
Subaki inhaled, and then let out a quiet, draining sigh.  
“...yeah. I’ve lost someone before—a girl that I used to work with. I’m from an upper-class family that’s served the Hoshidan royal family for generations, like yours. A girl from the lower classes that was also in training to serve, like I was—we went out for our first skirmish against an enemy supposed to be a small size, but a larger than anticipated group showed up.” Subaki closed his eyes, seeming like he was both reminiscing and regretting meeting the girl. “I fell in love with her, Saizo. And she was in love with me, too. I...gave her an engagement ring, actually,” Subaki said, laughing sadly. “While defending from an enemy pegasus knight, a sniper shot an arrow right through her chest. Successful, the enemies retreated, but I went directly over to her, and she died in my arms, choking blood and crying, but somehow smiling.” He paused. “It changes you, Saizo—I’m well aware of that. But you can’t just give up. I know that you want to, and I know well how much it hurts, but...trust me, Kaze wouldn’t want you to die. You’ll get past it.” Subaki gave Saizo a charming smile, although the ninja knew that behind the temporary flash of optimism lied a world of pain and depression from war. “It’s not easy, but you’ll be fine.”

With that, the pegasus knight stood up and stretched, and then helped Saizo to stand as well. He returned to his mount, brushing out the ruffled feathers on the pegasus’ wings.  
“Saizo, we should return to camp.”  
Saizo nodded in agreement, finally relaxing after his talk with Subaki. It felt nice to find someone who understood—or at some point understood, at least—and to have someone who cared to talk to.  
“...thank you,” the ninja breathed under his breath. Just in front of him, he felt the pegasus knight stiffen in surprise, and then relax as he let out a lighthearted laugh.  
“No problem, Saizo,” he said.

As the pegasus took off into the air lit by the fading light of the sunset, for the first time in weeks since Kaze’s death, Saizo felt okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aughihjhiihjg i'm sorry this chapter was awful ^^; i promise the third one is gonna better also there's gonna be more saizo/kagero in that one because i can't handle my own feels


	3. Acceptance and Something New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they say when one door closes, another door opens, and saizo finds that statement to be startlingly true.

About two or three months had passed after Kaze’s death—although the army’s members were still in tears because of it every now and then, their general state of mind was much better after the mourning of the beloved ninja was coming to a close. Despite having many pegasus knights fly down to the bottom of the chasm to check for Kaze, his body had never been found; eventually, Saizo, Kagero, and the rest of the ninjas had come to a sad but resolute agreement that Kaze would be honored, but they must move on. Even Corrin felt better, occasionally spending time looking through the remains of Kaze’s inventory before they finally threw everything out. A few of the ninjas had claimed some of his shurikens as mementos of his life, and everything else was dried herbs or leftover concoctions and vulneraries, too old to be used properly. Just like how Saizo and his brother had used their father’s pendant in exchange for his body when they buried him, the ninja had decided that he would use Saizo’s final letter to burn.  
The ceremony was bittersweet and sad, but over with quickly. Kagero approached him afterwards, pulling her hair back into a dark ponytail.  
“It’s sad, isn’t it?” The kunoichi asked quietly. Saizo nodded, staring off.  
“It’s sad, but...for the best. If there’s one way Kaze would have wanted to die, it would’ve been saving his liege, you know?”  
Kagero nodded. “That’s how all of us want to go out, I suppose.”  
“Yeah.”

There was a short, awkward silence between the two of them before Hinata approached the ninjas, giving a small, suggestive eyebrow wiggle at Kagero, who immediately flushed crimson before muttering something under her breath and turning back to Saizo. Hinata winked at him.  
“So! I suppose now that that chapter of our lives is over and done with...what are you two going to do?”  
“What are _we_ going to do?” Saizo echoed curiously. Kagero looked away.  
“You know!” Hinata lightly elbowed Saizo in the ribs, barely blocking himself from the following jab to the stomach that the ninja shot back at him. “ _You two_ ,” he repeated. Kagero punched at him. Despite keeling over in pain, Hinata gave another wink at Saizo before practically falling over as he walked away.

The ninjas exchanged a glance and walked away from the shrine, the redheaded ninja casting a final glance at what remained of his brother. He and Kagero found a place to sit around the outskirts of the camp, where some of the wood had been cut down for tinder. They sat down on opposing stumps, facing each other. Kagero coughed lightly and looked away.  
“So, um...did you hear that Peri and Niles are getting married?”  
“They are?” Saizo blinked, thinking of the Nohrian couple. He chuckled slightly at thinking how their retainers, the royal brothers of Nohr, would react to that. Laslow and Odin, the couples’ partners in their work, were certainly best friends, with a bond certainly deeper than they spoke of—Niles and Peri would make a handsome couple. “The two of them are cute, if a little psychotic. Certainly though, Niles can handle Peri’s...urges.”  
“And Peri Niles’,” Kagero added, laughing. “Kaden and Charlotte, too. And Laslow and Selena were basically married already when they joined us, even though they’re _technically_ just getting married now.”  
“It’s hard to believe we might’ve gotten married once,” Saizo commented under his breath. Kagero gave a shocked look to him, although her pale cheeks were flushed slightly pink.  
“U-um—” she cleared her throat. “—what?”  
“I...” Saizo coughed, turning away from her. “N-nevermind.”  
“ _Anyway,_ ” Kagero continued, trying to leave behind their awkward exchange, “Laslow and Selena are quite cute together, don’t you think?”  
Saizo nodded, frowning. “Um, Kagero...why did you bring this up?”  
“I—I thought that maybe it would lighten the mood—”  
“That’s clearly not it.”  
Kagero sighed, watching Saizo’s gaze harden. She tilted her head away from him, refusing to make eye contact.  
“I miss us, Saizo.”  
“We made an oath,” Saizo reminded her quietly, trying to push back memories from their past relationship. “We agreed that we wouldn’t let our breakup get in the way of—”  
“We wouldn’t let it get in the way of serving Lord Ryoma. I know that, Saizo. But...I think it’s a little unfair to not let ourselves feel emotion for each other,” she pressed on. “I heard what you said earlier, Saizo, and by the sounds of it, you miss us too.”  
“I do, but—”  
“Saizo, why did we break up?”  
“We...didn’t agree on a lot of things, like how to protect Lord Ryoma, and how to protect each other.” Saizo winced. “We broke up because of that.”  
“Yeah,” Kagero agreed. “It’s unfortunate, but have you ever thought of _why_ we broke up?”  
“We...because—” Saizo took a moment to pause, thinking. “The same reason.”  
Kagero looked off in the distance, giving a small sigh. “...yeah. Same reason, I suppose.”

The kunoichi stood up to leave before Saizo grabbed her hand, turning her around to face him. “Listen. We can’t get married right now or anything—we’re in the middle of the war, and we have neither the funds for a marriage nor the time to build our relationship back up—but maybe we can start small.” Although he was wearing his mask and she couldn’t see his mouth, he offered her a small smile.   
“Start...small?” Kagero murmured. She looked up at him as he took off his mask, holding it in his hand to give her the most sincere impression possible. She nodded. “I’d like that.”  
“Good,” he responded. He pulled her in for a light kiss on the forehead. “Starting small.”

“You know what’s funny?” Kagero asked as they made their way back to the center of the camp. Saizo shot her a curious look. “They say when every door closes, another opens. The door to Kaze’s life has closed, but the door to us has opened again. The ending of something old is the beginning of something new, so to speak.”  
Saizo nodded, thinking about her words. His brother’s death had sparked a lot of things—fiery sessions of blaming with Corrin, bonding with Subaki, harsh exchanges with Hinata—but it had all been for the best, he decided. Kaze would be greatly missed, and he figured the army would never forget about the mysterious but kindhearted younger ninja, but the recovery from his death had made the army stronger, and everyone more determined to defend Hoshido from Nohr and end the war that had costed them the lives and families of so many.

He fell asleep that night thinking of Kaze and of Kagero, and decided that his brother would be proud of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boqbfewljkbafelwo i'm sorry for how fucking cheesy this chapter is but if you did thank you for reading the whole fic and i hope you liked it ^^


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